National Day of Prayer held locally

Thursday

May 2, 2013 at 5:00 PM

Members of the local community came together this morning to participate in the National Day of Prayer held at the First Christian Church. The formal event began in 1952 and has been exercised by communities across the United States in an effort to come together for the good of the country. The first Thursday of May is always set aside for the event. A mixture of community leaders attended the local event, represented by elected officials to business owners.

Tammy Knox

Members of the local community came together this morning to participate in the National Day of Prayer held at the First Christian Church. The formal event began in 1952 and has been exercised by communities across the United States in an effort to come together for the good of the country. The first Thursday of May is always set aside for the event. A mixture of community leaders attended the local event, represented by elected officials to business owners.

The local meeting began with breakfast followed by a short program. Kathy Arnold provided the opening statement and a welcome to those in attendance with the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag followed by the Pledge to the Christian Flag.

A series of community leaders came up to pray for specific areas of concern, including government, military, churches, families, educational systems, media and businesses. Each leader provided a brief look at the subject followed by a prayer on a local, state and national level.

Denton Aud, White County State's Attorney provided the prayer for the government as well as the military.

"As an elected official, it is very uplifting when someone comes up and says they are praying for me in my job," said Aud. "It is an honor to pray for those in government and military today."

Aud went on to state that actions always speak louder than words and the government is a mere reflection of the people. He also asked for protection of the men and women in uniform, noting they deserve nothing but respect and love.

Aud was followed by Steve McClure, senior pastor at First Christian Church, who represented the prayers for churches and families. McClure told the group they were not alone in the efforts conducted during the service as millions of others across the nation are offering up prayers on the same subjects. He also recognized several members of sister churches in attendance as he began his prayer.

"We pray today to preserve and protect our churches as we share ministry through many churches in Carmi and the area and pray we work together in unity," said McClure.

McClure went on to talk about traditional families being challenged by change and asked those in the room to pray to protect and strengthen families and heal strained relationships.

"We pray to preserve the good and Godly values in the home," said McClure. "We also ask for help in preparing the next generation to right the wrongs in our society today."

Brad Lee then represented the educational systems in the area, expressing his appreciation for the community and administrators and teachers involved in the system. Lee included in his prayer the request to honor and inspire each of these individuals not only at a local level but also throughout the nation from pre-kindergarten through high school and universities. Lee also prayed to keep students safe and prayed for parents first and foremost to look to God for guidance as decisions are made.

Mike Erwin, representing WROY/WRUL Radio Stations in Carmi, was the next individual to address the group to pray for the media. Erwin has been a radio announcer for the past 16 years and said he was "speaking to things close to his heart." Erwin prayed for the media and for more Christian influences to come through media outlets and voiced concerns over content in both daytime and evening television along with musical content coming through all sorts of genres. Erwin noted even cartoons display unwholesome values and prayed to promote Christian values in these avenues of media.

The final speaker of the event was Bill Arnold who spoke on behalf of businesses. Arnold noted we have many good businessmen in Carmi but that was not necessarily true at the state and national level. He asked to lift up Godly businesses and support them. He also asked the local community to recognize and support area businesses that donate a lot of money to many area causes out of their profits and just out of the goodness of their hearts.

The National Day of Prayer event was concluded by Sean Cribbs, associate minister of music at First Christian Church, who led the group in a verse of "God Bless America."

Schools

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